This invention relates generally to dispensing apparatus and more particularly to portable apparatus for dispensing a desired length and most preferably any desired length of a strip food product from a reel of such a product stored in the apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,566,732 (Hasten et al.) discloses a spring loaded vending machine having a rotary conveyor to move a flexible carrier strip carrying plural individual items from a storage area in the machine to a cutter. The individual items, e.g., food products, are held on the carrier strip by means of equidistantly spaced pockets. The strip is drawn to the rotary conveyor so that each of the food holding pockets of the strip is disposed within a respective recess in the periphery of the conveyor to convey the respective food items to the cutter. The cutter severs the leading individual item from the strip at a points between it and the immediately succeeding pocket, whereupon the pocket portion of the strip and the food product held therein drops to a discharge bin for removal from the machine.
The prior art also includes other United States Letters Patent disclosing various types of devices for housing and dispensing individual labels or other items temporarily adhesively secured onto a carrier strip or web of tape. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,276,296 (Flood) there is disclosed a label dispenser device wherein individual labels are temporarily adhesively secured onto a spiral carrier strip or reel of tape. The labels of the reel are removed by pulling on the free end of the strip to draw the label at the free end manually out of an outlet in the device's housing. A sharp cutting blade is provided at the label outlet of the housing to sever the dispensed label at the point where it exits an outlet in the housing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,587,928 (Tuck et al.) there is disclosed a pill dispenser device wherein a fan-folded carrier strip of tape stores a plurality of pills at equidistantly spaced locations therealong. The leading edge of the carrier strip is arranged to be grasped so that the pill at the leading or free end of the strip exits out of the housing's outlet. A serrated edge is provided at the outlet to sever the dispensed carrier and associated pill.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,912,140 (Cole) there is disclosed a disk-like label dispenser device wherein a spiral reel of tape stores a plurality of disk like labels at equidistantly spaced locations therealong. The leading edge of the carrier strip is arranged to be grasped so that the disk-like label at the leading or free end of the strip exits out of the housing's outlet in an orientation generally parallel to the top edge of the dispenser while the tape strip is oriented or bent downward therefrom at an angle in excess of 90 degrees. This action effectively peels the label from the backing tape. U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,130 (Foote) discloses an alternative embodiment of a label dispenser to those described above.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,523 (Levasseur) there is disclosed a stamp dispenser device wherein a spiral reel of tape stores a plurality of stamps from a roll which is driven by a motor and associated friction or pinch rollers to advance the stamp for dispensation. The device uses light emitting diodes to determine the boundary between the stamps and for enabling the roll to be severed at the appropriate place on the stamp roll.
While all of the aforementioned patents appear suitable for their intended purposes, none seem suitable for dispensing an indeterminate length food product, e.g., chewing gum, stored as a reel within the housing, wherein the amount or length of the product dispensed is selectable at will by the user of the device.